Out on the Velos

I came across an old photograph showing two rigid-frame Velocette motorcycles parked outside a South Australian shop. The photo intrigued me so I decided to do some sleuthing.

The Velocette closest to the camera is the most clearly detailed, so other readers may be able to identify its capacity. The machines appear to be almost identical but the SA registration numbers are a fair way apart for their day: 414 and 7442. Both appear to be in excellent condition.

Quite apart from the fact that I came upon the photograph here in SA, other clues point to it being a South Australian shop so this tends to rule out the photo having been taken interstate. Firstly there are the fabric signs advertising soft drinks manufactured by G.Hall & Sons and the other for Woodroofe Original Kola Beer, this also being a soft drink made in SA. Maybe the riders were taking a break during a trip in the Adelaide Hills. Another clue is the sign on the shop’s entrance door for “The News”. This was an Adelaide afternoon tabloid that ceased printing in 1992. The newspaper poster headlining “FLOOD DISASTER. 36 DEAD” is under a banner reading “THE MAIL”.

I typed the headline into my Internet search engine and one of the hits was the Australian Geographic web site and a story on the 10 deadliest floods in Australia. The one rated the 4th most ‚

devastating flood occurred on 28th – 29th November 1934 in South Gippsland, east of Melbourne. The article describes how 350mm (almost 14 inches) of rain fell over the 2-day period with 18 people drowning and another 18 killed by collapsing buildings and other dangers caused by the flooding. Thus 36 dead. Unfortunately I can’t determine the location of the shop. Maybe some other SA reader might recognise the location.